A sailing board for windsurfing (hereinafter simply referred to as “sailing board”) is provided with a mast on a single surfboard allowing the mast to assume any inclined attitude (in other words, a movement track of a leading edge of the mast assumes a substantially hemispherical plain with a fixed axis of a mast centered on). A plurality of flexible rod-shaped frames (hereinafter referred to as “batten”) extending to the substantially vertical direction relative to the mast is mounted on the sailing board. One side of a sail with a substantially triangle shape is secured to the mast and the other side is inserted through a pouched batten pocket wrapping the plurality of battens. Furthermore, the mast is provided with a circularly-arranged flexible boom (i.e. steering which is operated by a user) extending from the mast to both sides of the sail by placing the sail inbetween. Since a mast can assume any inclined attitude, a sailing board is substantially different from a yacht (a mast is fixed to a hull as a cantilever). Thus, in order to turn the front of the surfboard, a user, regardless of under strong wind or slight wind, inclines the sail relative to a straight line connecting a front and end of the surfboard while supporting the sail receiving wind pressure by own weight so as not the sail to fall into the water, grabs a boom so as not the mast to fall down, and manages the skills (tacking, jibing) to incline the sail by shifting the gravity point of the user or moving to the right helm side or left helm side on the surfboard. Therefore, operation of a sailing board is more difficult than that of a yacht to the extent that even experienced users often fall down. Especially, beginners whose maneuvering skills are poor almost always fall down, are nearly drown, and drink a large amount of water or sea water. Even if a user manages to get back on a surfboard, sail up work is required. However, it is difficult for beginners to sail up while maintaining the balance of their bodies even when there is no wind, and it is almost impossible to sail up when there is strong wind. Since a mast of a sailing board can assume any inclined attitude as compared with that of a yacht, it is not possible to eliminate the possibility of falling down and the sail up work. Thus, in order to master the maneuvering, one needs to gain experience in maneuvering techniques by falling down many thousand times under fine weather as well as bad weather. However, there is a problem that beginners become frustrated due to the fear of falling down and the difficulty of sail up work. This is one of the reasons for preventing the promotion of windsurfing.
In view of the problems associated with conventional sailing boards, the inventor of the present invention has proposed to provide a cantilever rod-shaped member (a kind of a rail) on a surfboard to sail up a sail, the member being different from the mast (Japanese Patent No. 3686014).
According to the invention described in Japanese Patent No. 3686014, a rope whose one end is fixed to the sail is threaded through a ring body (direction changing member) provided on a leading edge of the rod-shaped member. A user on the surfboard can erect the sail which has fallen down on the water by holding the other end of the rope with hands and pulling the rope downward in the substantially vertical direction relative to the surfboard. Therefore, the complexity of work associated with sailing up (erecting the sail) has been reduced by a simple work (pulling a rope).